Soviet Log 28
Spider Brain Legs in the Air We picked things up in the heat of the moment with the Elder God Shard feeling angry and bent on revenge against...everyone. We had an opportunity with the rest of the spiders stunned by the Rod of Anti-Arachnids so we did some quick strategizing. Eva would finish off the stunned Weaver while the rest of us would focus on the 'Bulbous' legs (note: the 'Bulbous' trait should totally be added to the official rules and maybe even become a new Implant option). Our hope was that the legs would be easier to hit than the body because we had deduced that they were essential to defeating it. Oh, and we also figured out that the Rod was a once-per-day thing so it was no more use. With the plan in motion, Eva quickly took out the stunned Weaver. The rest of us laid into the legs and immediately found ourselves facing a 'Natural 20' foe. Those of us that could hit over the AC couldn't not surpass the RF and vice versa. Thankfully, Mei Linn started firing off Disintegrates like they were going out of style which evened the playing field a bit. Eva also turned her attention to the legs and sprayed it repeatedly with her 'totally-not-broken-at-all-nothing-to-see-here' DR 20+ mounted Rod and Cannon. With a bit of trial and error, we arrived at a strategy where the legs were softened up so that Katya and Roq could jump in with more conventional attacks and whittle the legs down. When the first bulbous leg was destroyed we noticed it had some kind of dampening effect on the spider brain's power. Spurred on by our success we took another leg out but then the stun wore off the other spiders. For a moment, it looked like we were going to have to fight all the spiders but our efforts bore an unexpected fruit. Since the Rod's intervention had severe the telepathic spider link, the spider brain could no longer directly control the subservient spiders. They were reduced to shrieking at each other in an unfamiliar (and very uncomfortable) way. The other spiders decided to sit back and see how the fight evolved despite the Spider Brain's protestations. With a bit of room to maneuver, we set back about destroying the legs. There were only 5 left at this point and we were focusing on the left side to potentially destabilize it. Things got nasty when it started Synaptic Overloading us. It got really nasty for Katya, when she finally succumbed (took two more tries, though) and quickly became spider bait. A nasty strike pinned her to the ground (#endofroundpinBS) and the spider began to, somewhat gleefully, pound her repeatedly. She managed to divert one attack with a bit of clever persuading which was damn lucky since she was one hit away from death. Eva, sensing her teammate's distress, strode in and they did a combined strength check which freed Katya who retreated until the Synaptic Overload wore off a few segments later. Spider boy's (Cyta's friend's) mother showed up and started to get the spiders riled up to fight again but the spiders were uncertain about how to proceed. Katya jumped in with a critical beguile which helped them see the value in our cause, but not before the Gianr Spider Mother and Son started Fighting each other! Fortunately when we destroyed the Overmind's 4th Leg its Defensive Fields crumbled, and the other Spiders joined in and, with their help, we finished it off and banished the Elder God Shard back to whatever hell it came from. At least until it gathers its power again and reemerges with a renewed sense of vengeful purpose. Hopefully, that won't be a for a looooong time... With the fighting behind us, we set about negotiating peace with the spiders. A group beguile helped convince them that peace was the best option. Eva suggested we bring a representative with us to prove what we had done for the K'nyans. Spider-boy volunteered. His mom was still a little sensitive after almost killing him earlier in a fit of rage but she came around. Katya, called for some additional spider help with our 'surface problems' to which Wick and a couple other spiders responded. She is privately looking forward to riding a giant spider into battle later. The spiders were grateful for our efforts and gave us some old treasure they had laying around (the rewards below). We divvied it all up and set our sights for K'Nya. We called it a session there with a feeling of a job well done after emerging victorious from an epic 6 round run n' gun spider battle. Rewards 33 Generic 3 Combat Katya 4 Military 1 Bennie Boots of the Spider Shield of Sanctuary Gladiator's Curiass Guantlet of Frost 10000 Rubles of gold and jewels